Ask the B Corp Expert: Jasmin Wright
At Gusto Group, sustainability has been our focus long before it was a requirement or a trend.
Gusto Construction's very first development in the 1990’s was very innovative for the time, incorporating rainwater harvesting, solar water heating and high-performance insulation. It was a project that proved building in this way was both commercially and practically possible, and that same approach has stayed with us ever since.
As March is B Corp Month, we sat down with Jasmin Wright, Head of Brand and Purpose and the driving force behind our B Corp certification, to discuss what it takes to balance people, planet and profit across our Group of businesses.
Our proud Gusto Group team, continuing to meet high standards of social and environmental performance.
For anyone new to it, what exactly does B Corp Certification mean?
B Corps are essentially businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental impact. This is about more than just reducing your environmental impact, B Corps are also committed to continually improving how they support their customers, care for their employees and contribute to their communities. There are now over 10,000 B Corps worldwide and 2,700 of them are in the UK!
It’s quite a rigorous and time-consuming process to achieve B Corp Certification, so I’m always impressed when I see new companies joining the community.
What does B Corp say about a company’s values and our values at Gusto Group?
We’ve been prioritising innovation and sustainability ever since Gusto Construction’s first development in the late 90s, where we built to 3x building regs at the time. We’ve always been very intentional about building communities within our developments and designing to encourage this, alongside putting resident owned management companies into some of our Gusto Homes developments. This ethos has continued through the other businesses we have built/acquired since then and in a recent employee survey the majority of our employees said our company vision and mission was either really important or important, so we must be doing something right!
Not all B Corps have the same priorities, but I always think we have similar values. Maybe some prioritise sustainability but need support and guidance on how best to support their people or are after ideas about how best to structure their company to benefit their employees. I think this is the beauty of B Corp, that companies come into it with different strengths, and we can all learn from each other, constantly evolving.
Our team getting stuck into the climate fresk workshop.
What does B Corp mean to you, personally?
I think it’s a really easy way to see a company’s intention – I don’t think of B Corp as perfectionism, but more about progress in the right direction. Personally, I’m more excited to shop with brands who are B Corps and enjoy seeing the logo out in the wild even more these days; my favourite local coffee shop has just become a B Corp so it’s great to see the movement growing across so many industries.
What’s your number one tip for businesses at the start of their journey?
It’s something you should take your time with by slowly implementing B Corp principles into your business – it’s not a ‘box ticking’ exercise but is such a helpful guide to shape your business. We’ve always prioritised sustainability and building communities, but there is always so much room to improve and the questions within the assessment can open up things you’ve never thought about. For example, we now have stronger employee feedback channels that were improved as part of our certification.
How do you see the B Corp movement evolving over the next few years?
B Corp’s standards are evolving and moving away from the points-based system to aligning with mandatory requirements across 7 key pillars – I think it’s a positive change but one that may make it more challenging for companies to get started.
Why are you proud to be part of the B Corp Community?
I think it’s a huge achievement to be part of the B Corp community and locally we are getting more involved with other B Corps, planning events and dinners to share knowledge, support each other and work together. We are trying to work with more B Corps across the Group where we can, as it’s an easy way to know that our values are aligned.
We achieved our B Corp certification in 2023 to formalise the values we already held as a business.
At Gusto Group, our journey didn't end with certification, it began there. As we continue to evolve alongside the B Corp movement, we remain committed to the same principles we started with thirty years ago: building better sustainable communities for everyone.